Breaking Dawn

By Stephenie Meyer

Little, Brown, $22.99

768 pages, ISBN 9780316067928

Vampires bite into bestseller list

Who knew that a 108-year-old vampire and an unsuspecting high schooler were the perfect twosome for horror and romance? Stephenie Meyer had a hunch, and while many writers before her have popularized the vampire tale, her internationally best-selling Twilight Saga has taken vampire love to an entirely new level. The saga will come to a conclusion on August 2, when Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final book in the series, is released, with a huge first printing of 3.2 million copies.

In Meyer's previous novel, Eclipse, Bella was forced to choose her love for Edward, a reformed vampire, over her friendship with Jacob, a werewolf; this decision could lead her to become a vampire herself, but eager readers will have to wait for the release of Breaking Dawn to learn Bella's final fate. To celebrate the release of the book, Meyer is holding a Breaking Dawn Concert Series, a sold-out, four-city concert tour featuring the music that stimulated Meyer's muse while she was writing the story.

An unknown Mormon mother who was raising three sons in Arizona when Twilight was published in 2005, Meyer has become one of the most talked-about authors in recent years, earning a devoted following of readers who mob her book tours. She was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2008. Interest in the characters Bella and Edward spans the globe, with more 30 countries purchasing translation rights for Twilight. Sequels New Moon and Eclipse claimed the top spot on the New York Times bestseller list for weeks, and her most recent novel and first adult book, The Host, topped the fiction list as well.

Interest in Meyer's work is expected to reach a new high in December, when Twilight lands on the big screen. The film will star Kristen Stewart (Into the Wild) as Bella and Robert Pattinson (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) as Edward. Meyer also is currently writing her next novel, Midnight Sun, a companion novel to Twilight as told from Edward's perspective.